Exhibition at Macomb Art Gallery March 3 - April 13, 2011

Deborah Orloff
Originally from New York City, Deborah Orloff moved to Ohio in 1994 to accept a teaching position at the University of Toledo. She is currently Director of Photography in the Department of Art, where she teaches full time. She received her MFA from Syracuse University in 1992 and her BFA from Clark University in 1986. Although her primary medium is photography, she has also worked in video, mixed media, and installation. Her work has been included in numerous exhibitions in North America, South America, and Europe at venues which include: the Whitney Museum of American Art, Dallas Museum of Art, Columbus Museum of Art, The Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, and the Royal Scottish Academy Galleries in Edinburgh, Scotland. Orloff has been the recipient of multiple grants and awards.

Artist Statement
   Holzwege, the German word for wood-path, refers to paths in the forest that lead nowhere. These paths meander through the woods and end abruptly; you never know where one will take you. Thus, the concept of a wood-path can be seen as a metaphor for life’s uncertainty.
  There are points in our lives when we are focused; it is as if we are on a clear path toward our goals. Other times, we feel unsure of where we are heading, or a chosen course ends unexpectedly and we must suddenly reevaluate our direction. I am exploring these ideas in my current body of work in which I create ambiguous landscapes through the layering of multiple photographs. I combine the images digitally to create surreal, new spaces where one photograph disappears into the next. These invented landscapes function as metaphors for the universal experience we all have inevitably, when our lives suddenly change; Just when you think you know where you’re going, unexpected circumstances dictate a change of plans.
   Ultimately the images are meant to be ethereal and optimistic, conveying the sense of wonder that exists when we open ourselves up to new possibilities and realize that change is often fortuitous. While the word holzwege suggests a dead-end, the connotation is not necessarily negative. Rather, the inability to move forward presents opportunities for exploration, transformation, and previously unimagined destinies.

Eric Torffkin
Eric Troffkin received his MFA degree in Sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BA degree in Fine Art and English Literature from Amherst College. His work has been showing nationally at the galleries and outside exhibition places. Troffkin was a Lecturer in Sculpture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Visiting Assistant Professor at Washington University in St. Louis. As the Sculpture Area Coordinator and Director of Graduate Studies he encouraged artistic dialogue and collaboration across media and fields of inquiry. Recently Troffkin has moved to Detroit to work as a faculty at the Department of Art and Art History at Wayne State University.

Artist Statement
My interests lie at a crossroads where expectations of future progress encounter these uncertainties: can the consequences of progress be foreseen? is the notion of progress itself a matter of faith? and if so, upon what foundation is such faith built? My artworks mark and investigate this crossroads. They are pieces of fiction, fabricated from the familiar visual language of the commercial products and industrial objects that inhabit our architecture and dot our urban and rural landscapes. Through the reproduction and alteration of such technological objects into sculptural form, I aim to provide a focal point for considering their psychic impact.